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June 18, 2008 - <script language="JavaScript" src="http://ads.ign.com/advertisers/DartRichMedia_1_03/DartRichMedia_1_03.js"></script>Being a hero doesn't mean much if there aren't people around to appreciate it. Here's a fun fact you may not have known: Fable 2 has a lot of AI controlled people in it to glorify or villify you. Fancy that. In the name of these non-player characters (NPCs), we've put together a feature to introduce you to them and fill you in on how much they matter to the world of Albion. We'll begin with the introduction of three NPCs that you'll likely bump into on the road to becoming a hero. So meet Arfur, Barnum and Giles and then continue on for an interview with Dene Carter, creative director for Fable 2, on interacting with these chaps and more.

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Meet Arfur
A genuinely nasty, seedy individual, Arfur is just the kind of vermin that flourishes in poverty-stricken areas like Bowerstone Old Town. In his youth he was a petty but vicious thief, as ready to slit a throat as he was to pick a pocket, and age has only soured him. A friend to bandits, an enemy of baths, he organises raids, murders and even more sordid deeds. He is ever ready to tempt you into his service with a pile of gold coins held in his filthy hands, giving the phrase "dirty money" a whole new meaning.

<!-- start image div --><!--- end image div -->Meet Barnum
The rise of new technologies has turned modern Albion into a land filled to the brim with business opportunities, and no one is more adept at squandering them than Barnum, the worst businessman in the world. There is no doomed venture he hasn't invested in, no fraudulent scheme he hasn't fallen for, and yet nothing can dampen his enthusiasm. Perhaps one of the reasons he constantly fails to attract customers is his rather peculiar vocabulary, the result of another of his failed investments: a homemade thesaurus.

<!-- start image div --><!--- end image div -->Meet Giles
As a town guard, Giles was the terror of all outlaws, famous for his commitment and single-mindedness even in the face of insurmountable odds. After thirty years of this life, he retired to a life of farming with his wife and son. But his attempt to leave the violence of his past is ruined when Ripper's gang of bandits make him a target. The gruff but kind-hearted Giles needs help, but so does Ripper. Will you make a stand by the guard turned farmer, or join the raiding hordes in the infamous Brightwood Farm bloodbath?

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IGN: How closely will we interact with these characters? Oftentimes in RPGs we see NPCs as nothing more than points for a single interaction or a place to find a quest. Will Fable 2 be different? If so, how?

Dene Carter: Even though Barnum, Arfur and Giles are not core NPCs, in that their actions don't alter the overall 'big' fate of the world, we consider folk like them to have a really important function as morality signposts. Your interactions with them alter the fates of others, whole segments of the world and, in one case, the fate of their offspring. I'm not sure you see something like this very often in games.

IGN: Will dealing with Arfur, Barnum or Giles change the Fable 2 world drastically depending on your decisions? What sorts of changes to the game can we expect from a single character interaction?

Carter: Let's look at a specific example: Arfur. Arfur is our first hint at the darker side of "Fable 2." At the start of the game your childhood home looks pretty (if a touch on the cold and frosty side for a pair of orphans) and filled with Dickensian charm. We introduced Arfur early on so players would hopefully realize that it's not quite such a nice place for a pair of children to grow up in. The world has a nasty side. Now in most games, that would be the end of it. The character has fulfilled his function and he can toddle off. In "Fable 2," this darker side of life is something a player can react to, to become an active part of if they are so inclined. Your childish decisions only reveal their ramifications when you come back to your childhood home many years later. The same is true of both Barnum and Giles; how you treat them, how much you trust them, and how nice a person you are in your dealings with them will drastically alter the world.
IGN: How many NPCs like these three will we run into in Fable 2?

Carter: I don't want to give away too much at this point, but let's just say we've got about 50 hours of recorded dialogue for our NPCs. That's probably more than the entire box-set of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." And let me tell you, I sat in front of "Buffy" for a long time. With a stop-watch. Just for this interview, you understand.

IGN: Are you free to kill any NPC in the game?

Carter: You're free to try! Like the first "Fable," we don't allow the player to ruin the story, emotion and game-play experience by killing off all the major NPCs. Imagine one of the rebels killing Darth Vader as soon as he walked through the door of their ship in Episode 4. Something tells me the film would have been an awful lot shorter. And not the 'good' kind of short, you know the 'He didn't make three more films after the damned Ewoks thing'. We're talking the 'Tom Cruise' kind of short. You know… annoying. So, we keep character reactions fairly realistic throughout the game, but there has to be a point where you say: "Hey – don't miss this. This is more important than the fact that you want to set light to the guy's pants."

IGN: If you kill any NPCs (such as Giles in the Brightwood Farm bloodbath), will that close off other potential missions or quests?

Carter: Absolutely. He's dead, so that restricts the things he can do. His marriage options, for example, are limited. As are his ambitions to be Albion's first celebrity game-show host. He *can* decompose like nobody else, though. And anyway, hopefully you'll feel pretty bad about killing Giles. He's a really good guy with a really sad, tragic past. Why would you add to his misery? What kind of monster are you? Oh – wait a minute. This is Fable. I guess we'll find out as soon as you start playing.

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<!--- end image div -->IGN: Are there some NPCs that only offer quests that are "good" or "evil" or are there shades of grey with everyone and multiple routes to success?

Carter: Our NPCs vary from utterly lovely, kind, gentle people to complete hedonistic despots (and idiots… there are lots of idiots in "Fable 2"). One of our supporting characters is, as far as I know, one of the most evil people in videogame history – far more evil than the main baddie. It'll be interesting to see how you deal with his particular challenge.

Since the player can configure the hero and the hero's abilities in a huge any number of ways, we've got to keep the goals clear and understandable, and complete-able by anyone, no matter what they've done with their hero. In general we've tried to ask: "You think you know who you are? Well… what would you do here, in this particular sticky situation?" As an aside, we had a weird bug recently where we realized we'd given all our population firearms by accident. A certain pair of villagers who had been captured went on a revenge spree after I released them. Really wasn't pretty. Sorry… you were asking something?

IGN: Will helping an entrepreneur character such as Barnum give me access to new goods that I otherwise wouldn't have?

Carter: Renown is the general currency we use for altering people's perception of you. Thus, helping any quest giver will give you more renown, which alters how much they like you and so on and so forth, until people start offering their stuff for a pittance. Describing Barnum as an entrepreneur is a stretch, at best. As far as the player will be able to tell, helping him has very little to do with being rich or wealthy. Or does it? I guess you'll have to find out by playing.

<!-- start image div --><!--- end image div -->IGN: How fully developed are the personalities of these NPCs? Will some nasty fellows be more likely to offer you quests or assistance if you've been playing as a rogue?

Carter: It very much depends on the person we're talking about. Some people only offer you tasks because of things you've done in the past. Some people don't even exist due to things you've done in the past. And, as ever, the whole world will eventually get to hear about what you've done and just what kind of person you are.

IGN: Are we likely to run into generic NPCs who don't have any unique interactions…people who in the first Fable would have just been there to impress with trophies?

Carter: As stated previously – we've a huge, huge amount of dialogue, and we've tried to use that mass of audio data to create a mixture of quirky, bizarre, interesting NPCs and other 'normal folk'. However, there are even rewards from interaction with 'normal folk'. We felt we missed an opportunity to tie in the main story gameplay with the simulation in "Fable 1," and I think we've definitely addressed this in "Fable 2."

IGN: Will prominent NPCs (like a mayor, for example) thoughts towards you affect the rest of the populous in that town or is each NPC an individual vessel?

Carter: Each NPC is an incredibly complex mix of personal quirks and tastes (some are definitely questionable). One person will absolutely loathe you because of something trivial, like your taste in clothing, while another will fall for you because of what you stand for. Both their viewpoints are justifiable and 'right', and alter how they react to you. We're actually dedicating a section of the interface to these aspects of a character's personality so you can quickly grasp what makes them tick. We considered adding 'influenced by…' stats as well at one point, but realized that without displaying a rather complex 'social-network' screen, this was going to be too subtle.

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<!--- end image div -->IGN: If I buy Giles' farm, will that affect the quest that deals with protecting him?

Carter: You only get to buy Giles' farm after he moves out. If you kill him, the place is… kind of trashed. Oops.

IGN: If I help to destroy Giles' farm, will that knock down its market value and allow me to buy it cheaper?

Carter: If you help destroy Giles' farm, it will be off the market since it becomes a tattered ruin! You'll find nice rewards if you help him of course, but if you don't, you also find something (or someone) very interesting in the ruins of his long abandoned farm.

IGN: Can I do the old trick of killing a character and then buying the vacant house on the cheap?

Carter: Most definitely – if you're that way inclined. On the other hand, if you're feeling less bloodthirsty, you can become friends with the owner first, so he'll give you a discount on the house price without resorting to premeditated murder. See what a nice game we're making? Try to contain your bloodlust!

IGN: If I play as a good hero, will my dog recognize Arfur as a rogue and growl at him?

Carter: No – the dog's an extension of your hero's personality in the world (mixed with how you've treated him). If you're working with Arfur, your dog realizes that this means you're an evil, slimy rat-bastard yourself, so he doesn't want to get in the way of any potential business dealings. He takes his cues from you. But if you threaten Arfur, he'll growl too… if you've trained him to do so.

IGN: You say Arfur is a "seedy" character. If I plant an Arfur, will it grow into an Arfur tree?

Carter: What's that? An acorn joke? To a "Fable" developer? You really are evil!

Source: IGN.com

it wont let me quote it but, good read